This was posted on the SASS forum. I thought it would be useful here. Take look at the part on stick on wheelweights. They're closer to pure than I thought at 99.5 % with a BHN of 6. Pure lead has a BHN of 5. Plenty soft enough for bp balls, bullets and minies. http://www.lasc.us/CastBulletAlloy.htm

Tis why I get all of the used ones from work that I can scrounge & sometimes our dealer will sell em to me from his other drops for $.45 a Pound.

I still mix in some of my old plumbers lead that I've had forever to keep all my bullets uniform as possible.

I've since lost my hardness gauge but have found that when you mold it in ingots & can take a regular Sharpie magic marker & can scribe a line in the metal with bottom of the pen "not the writing end but the opesite" it's plenty soft for muzzleloading.

Hawg, did you see that one post, I dont know which forum it was on, but I'm sure that you or one of your alter egos are there too about the guy that cast the balls from the stick on wheelweights, then got busy and didnt shoot them up for a while?

He tested them when fresh cast then like 60 days later, and they "aged". Got harder on him? I dont recall the exact numbers but it seems that they hardened up like 3-4 points?

I am sorta like you HH. I cast it and then I shoot it. For what I do, it works fine. If it kills at 100 then that is the test for me.

Fingernail is about 12 BH, depending on which hand it is on and how much hard labor that hand has done. Working people have harder nails than office types. If you can scratch it with your fingernail, then it is 12 Brinnell or less, ya just dont know exactly how much.

I dunno W.C. Like I said I've got one I've had so long it's turning white. It scratches much easier than a clip on weight and a BHN anywhere near 12 wouldn't work well with a minie. I've fired minies a lot older than what that guy was saying with no problems. Maybe it does in some cases but right now I'm not buying it.

Don't worry though, you'll start wising up as she gets into her 20s and experiences real life. My kids (24 & 27) now think that maybe, just maybe I have half a brain. Only half, mind you, but that's a huge upgrade!

Zincwheelweights seems to replace lead ww quite fast then lead isn't so easy to find as some time ago; last time I discarded some 2/3 of the wheelweights a guy gave me just because they are made of zinc or iron...
Better is to use old lead pipes coming from old houses restorations ( for this it's useful a friend with a building firm...)

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